Sri Lanka Set To Tour Pakistan In December - Report

The Sri Lankan team is all set to tour Pakistan in December. The Island nation will play two Test matches which will be hosted by Rawalpindi and Karachi. The Pakistan Cricket Board has sent over the proposed schedule to the Sri Lankan board. However, the final decision will be taken when both the board members will discuss the plans in a meeting.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan players and officials were happy with the security arrangements after recently concluded limited-overs series. Sri Lanka had sent a second-string side after the main players had pulled out due to security issues.

Sri Lanka had recently toured Pakistan for limited-overs series.

According to Cricket Pakistan, Rawalpindi Test is likely to begin on December 11 while the Karachi Test will be played from December 19, according to a top PCB official, but the final decision will be taken after further discussions.

SLC President Shammi Silva had said: “The safety and security of its players is the responsibility of the SLC, which it takes very seriously. If there had been any doubts, the SLC would not have gone ahead with this arrangement [limited-overs series] that we envisage will improve the players’ confidence and trust level and will also be critical when we start discussions on the schedule of the Test matches.”

Pakistan Cricket Board has given its brief on the security arrangements to the Sri Lankan board. Thus, the Pakistan board is hopeful that they would be given a green signal by the Sri Lankan officials.

Pakistan had whitewashed Sri Lanka in the ODI series whereas the visitors came back stronger to clean sweep the hosts in the T20I series. Subsequently, Pakistan former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked from the captaincy duties. Pakistan Cricket Board has named Azhar Ali as their Test captain and Babar Azam as their T20I skipper.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka is currently on the tour of Australia. Lasith Malinga-led side will play the first T20I at Adelaide on 27th October. Meanwhile, Pakistan will also follow its Asian neighbors to Australia as they will play the first T20I in Sydney Cricket Ground on 3rd November.